Birthmark
by Squatta
Summary: Marco was born with an unusual birthmark that he hates. Jean thinks otherwise. Jean x Marco. AU/Hint of reincarnation.


**Warnings:**

- Guy x guy  
- AU  
- Possibly OoC ;~;  
- Mostly fluff

* * *

Jean had been lying awake for the past couple minutes, watching the sun gradually starting to pour into the bedroom through the slit in the curtains. Trying to fully wake himself up, he let out a long, drawn out sigh and rubbed his eyes with both hands. Running a hand through his hair which he knew was always a complete mess in the morning; he turned his head to look at the sleeping figure beside him.

A strong, solid, back full of freckles was facing him. The slightly taller figure slowly breathed in and out in their slumber, causing their shoulder to lift and fall slightly in time with each breath. Jean just lay there for a moment and stared at the freckles in front of him – he never got tired of looking at them because it seemed like every time he did, there was always one he didn't remember being there. Not that he knew where every single freckle was on Marco's body was… It was just that he had so many of them it was impossible to keep track.

Jean's eyes then wandered to Marco's birth mark. His birthmark was unusual to say the least – it was massive. It spanned from his face all the way down his waist, but it was only on his right side. Maybe about a third of the right part of his face was covered by it, most of his arm, and when it came to his torso it started getting sparser with just a few splotches here and there. It was a big mark a few shades darker than the rest of the man's body so it was hard to miss.

Reaching out to slowly grab the waist in front of him, Jean scooted closer so that their bodies were making full contact and he fit perfectly against his partner. Marco stirred from his sleep from the all too familiar warmth.

"G'morning, Jean," he mumbled, grabbing the hand that had wrapped around his body and lacing his fingers with Jean's.

Jean just hummed and nuzzled into the crook of Marco's neck. This was something they did often in the morning if there wasn't any real rush to get anywhere that day. It was nice to be able to just enjoy each other's company without having to worry for a while.

Jean then sat up and kissed Marco on the cheek, leaving a trail of kisses down his birthmark to his shoulder.

Marco grumbled, "Stop kissing my gross side…"

Jean stopped and scowled in Marco's direction, "How many times have I told you to stop saying that?"

"I know, I know," Marco breathed out, "But I've always been self-conscious of this ugly thing on my body and it's just really weird that someone is paying attention to it and not in a negative way."

"Marco, how long have we been dating? You should be used to it by now," Jean sat up in the bed with Marco doing the same.

"I don't think I could ever get used to it…" Marco gave a weak smile.

It made sense, Jean thought. Marco has had to live with this birthmark since day one. His mother was even worried when she saw that her baby looked the way he did when he was born and was shocked but happy to learn it was nothing serious. But Marco had to live with it every day, and when he started school he heard nothing but comments, often rude, about the gigantic patch that covered most of his body. But gradually the kids got used to it and not all of them were quite so mean after getting to know him and being scolded for their behavior. Marco managed to make a few friends and was quite happy. The comments he did get, though, affected him a lot.

He had gotten into the habit of wearing long sleeves, turtlenecks, hoodies – anything that would cover up most of this birthmark. Even if it was in the middle of summer he would refuse to wear anything that didn't at least have long sleeves if he was to go out in public.

Once middle school came around, the children only got worse about teasing him and he got called 'freak' on almost a daily basis. Marco had completely shut himself off from his classmates and came home crying often. He begged his mother to let him stay at home but she would just say that it would only be a few more years and he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. She would go to the school and discuss with the principle about Marco's harassment but nothing seemed to work. When Marco was getting ready to become a high school student, Marco's mother decided that homeschooling would be the best option as her son was no longer the bright, cheery kid she once knew.

Getting his high school education at home helped with decreasing Marco's stress but he felt very lonely as he rarely agreed to go outside of the house. In his second year of high school, he decided to muster up the courage and start doing daily workouts. It started off with just doing some early morning jogs – it was nice because not many people were awake and the people in his neighborhood were kind to him since most had known him since he was a young child. These jogs helped boost his confidence and he started running during the evenings too.

Marco started to love running because of the confidence it gave him. It made him feel good because this was one of the ways he could leave the house and feel the most comfortable. He started going to a public track near his house to run since he wanted to possibly see if competitive running could be in his near future – and that's where he met Jean.

Marco noticed him the first few times he went to the track and always thought he was the most graceful runner there. His posture was perfect and he was easily the best runner on the track at any given time. Marco always noticed that Jean stared at him, though, which made him uneasy. He knew it was because of his birthmark and didn't want someone as cool as Jean just to know him as that kid with the weird mark on his body that was always at the track. So Marco tried his best to be as good as Jean. He practiced and practiced and practiced.

One day Marco stayed unusually late at the track. At this point, no one else was there so he took off his usual jogging suit and stripped down to just a t-shirt and shorts. This was pretty much the equivalent of being naked for him so he really hoped no one would come. But that night someone else came to the track and it was none other than Jean.

Upon noticing each other, they both froze in a sort of awkward stare. Marco felt his face getting red because Jean could now see much more of his birthmark than he previously had.

"U-Um…" Jean stuttered, averting his eyes. "I didn't expect anyone else to be here at this time…"

"Me neither…" Marco said meekly, putting a hand to his neck, pretending to scratch it, but in reality it was to cover up, if only a little, a part of his mark.

"It's fine, though!" Jean said in a reassuring voice, "I've noticed you lately and you've gotten good really fast. Honestly, I'm impressed."

Marco's face lit up with a smile. Before he knew how big his grin actually was, Jean let out a snicker.

"Ah, sorry, you just looked so happy about that," Jean apologized after seeing Marco's face drop after he laughed.

"W-Well, coming from you who's so good at running it's kind of an honor," Marco said nervously.

The two continued to hit it off surprisingly well and even did a few timed runs against each other. Jean outran Marco each time, but Marco was even impressed with himself that he managed to keep up with Jean for the most part.

The two enjoyed their private night run so much that they decided to make it a weekly thing. Every week Marco couldn't wait to have the track all to themselves. Marco couldn't remember the last time he had smiled and laughed this much, he couldn't remember the last time he had a friend like this. He thought for sure that Jean had just stared at him at first because of his birthmark but Jean never brought it up with all his conversations with Marco.

Until one week a few months after they started with their weekly meetings.

"Hey, Marco, can I ask you a weird question?" Jean asked as they were warming down.

"What is it?"

"…Do you remember me?" Jean looked at Marco with a serious face.

"…Huh?" Marco asked in confusion.

"Ah, I knew it was a weird question…" Jean gave a short laugh. "It's just that, when I first saw you I couldn't help but feel like I knew you before, especially when I saw the markings on your body."

Marco's eyes widened a bit when Jean mentioned his birthmark when he never had before.

"When I saw the mark on your face, and the first time I saw it on your arm, I couldn't stop thinking about it…"

Marco blushed slightly in embarrassment, _'So he was looking at them after all…'_

"Ah! I'm not saying they're weird or anything!" Jean chirped up "In fact I-I actually… kind of like them?"

Marco made a confused face, "You like this ugly thing?"

"Like might not be the right word but… When I saw them it felt so nostalgic. Even though I also felt kind of sad – but it was like, oh yeah, I really want to get to know this person. It's strange; I don't know how to describe it…" Jean ran a hand through his hair.

Marco didn't say anything for a moment but then burst out in laughter.

"Wh-What's so funny?" Jean said in a flustered tone.

"Jean, you're so weird!" Marco continued to laugh.

"I'm not weird!" Jean smiled and gave Marco a light shove.

Obviously the two hit it off and that's why they now share an apartment and a bed together. It didn't take much for the two to fall in love; it seemed to happen so naturally. Jean never really figured out why Marco's birthmark triggered so much emotion for him but he figured maybe it was just fate.

Marco figured it was fate too. He went his whole life cursing this mark he was born with and hating it with every fibre of his being. He often thought that he would be doomed to spend the rest of his life alone and stuck in his house because of how affected he was by it. But Jean came in, almost at the perfect moment, and saved him. Marco was no longer afraid to go out in public, even without Jean. If he ever heard whispers or comments about his mark he'd shrug it off. One time a kid asked him why he looked the way he did, and Marco said it was the sign that in a past life he was a warrior and this was his battle wound. The kid thought it was the coolest thing and thought Marco was a real warrior. It was amusing and made his day – and it was interesting how that little story just seemed to come to Marco's mind off the top of his head.

Jean leaned in and gave Marco a kiss on the lips.

"Just think of your birthmark as one big freckle," Jean said.

Marco snorted at Jean's umpteenth attempt to make Marco hate his birthmark less.

"Then I'm just going to keep kissing you until you stop feeling that way about it," Jean smirked and dove into Marco's neck.

"S-Stop! You know I'm ticklish right there too!" Marco started to laugh and simultaneously fight off Jean who left a relentless barrage of kisses down Marco's neck. "Okay! I give!" Marco slapped at Jean's back.

Jean laughed and hovered over Marco, planting one final kiss on Marco's lips.

"I love you," he said in a more serious tone after their laughter had subsided. He stroked the side of Marco's face. "So I won't stand for someone calling any part of the person I love 'ugly' even if it's you."

Marco smiled warmly, "Fine, I love you too. So I guess if this stupid birthmark is what led me to you it isn't all that bad." Marco reached up, putting a hand on the back of Jean's neck and bringing their faces together in another kiss. Their lips lingered for a moment and Marco gave Jean's lip a light nibble.

"Hn, Marco," Jean said in a low tone after their lips had separated, leaving kisses along the line of his jaw.

"Alright, let's go for a run!" Marco exclaimed pushing Jean off of him.

"Huh? A run after all that romantic stuff I said?" Jean pouted.

"Yeah, I feel like getting some exercise in this morning," Marco stretched his arms.

"I can think of a better exercise…" Jean mumbled, reaching his arms out to grab Marco around the waist.

"Hmm… That can be part of our warm-down," Marco said slyly, prying Jean's arms off of him and getting up from the bed.

"Alright!" Jean said in a cheerful voice.

"I like your enthusiasm," Marco chuckled.

Jean jumped out of bed and followed Marco out of the room.

"Of course, that's my favorite work-out regimen."

* * *

**The End.**

S-So I had to stay up all night to write a paper and uhh I ended up writing this too haha. I wrote it just to get me into the writing mood so I could write my paper and now I'm halfway done with the paper orz. So I apologize if there are any typos/errors because I did this in one sitting.

Anyway I just really wanted to do another Jean x Marco story because I've grown so attached to them that I can't stop reading about them. ;~; I'm hoping another reincarnation story isn't too boring but if these two were reincarnated it's my headcanon that Marco would have a marking like this. I hope Jean x Marco fans enjoyed this! I really want to do a multi-chapter fic of them one day but not today... I have an idea for one but it's gonna take a while to get it started if it happens.

Thank you so much for reading and for anyone who favorites/reviews. ヽ( ・ω・)ﾉ


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